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E-Newsletter: February 2011

The Phoenix Perennials E-Newsletter
February 2011

Follow us on Facebook Follow new plants, events and happenings in real time with regularly posted images and notes from the nursery. Fan Page members are the first to find out about sales, special events and other happenings! Recent Updates Plant Hunting in Chile 2011 - See the intriguing plants and incredible landscapes that I visited in late January and early February. You don't have to be a Facebook member to view the Fan Page. Have a look!

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In this Issue

1. The Hellebore Hurrah!
2. News, Dates and Other Tid Bits
3. Plant Hunting in Chile
4. Charity Shopping Weekends 2011: Call for Applications
5. Fabulous at Phoenix: Hellebore Companion Plants

1.

Opening Weekend 2011
The Hellebore Hurrah!
Celebrating early spring and all things Hellebore

February 25th, 26th, and 27th, 2011
10am-5pm

Brace yourselves for one of the largest and most exciting selections of hellebores ever offered in North America!

This year we bring you an unparalleled selection of different species, cultivars and strains of hellebores sourced from some of the best breeders in North America and around the world. There will be lots of new cultivars. We will also be offering free workshops on hellebores. You won't want to miss this weekend!

Mark your calendars!

Free Workshop
Hellebores in the Garden: Secrets of Success with the Lenten Rose
Instructor: Shelley Brignall
Take a tour of the various hellebores for the garden then learn about their soil, nutrient, light and water requirements, how to clean them up after the winter, how to dead head the flowers, take care of potential pests, how to divide and much more. The workshop will last for approximately one hour.
Friday and Saturday of the Hellebore Hurrah! at Noon.

We will have available for purchase at the Hellebore Hurrah! copies of Hellebores: A Comprehensive Guide by C. Colston Burrell and Judith Knott Tyler This excellent book is the definitive book on the genus Helleborus, packed with up-to-the-minute, comprehensive information on growing, maintenance, design, hybridization and selection. It is lavishly illustrated and is an excellent reference for hellebore lovers of all levels.

See you soon!

2.

News, Dates and Other Tid Bits

3.

Plant Hunting in Chile In late January and early February I spent two weeks in Chile on a plant hunting trip with friend and plant explorer Dan Hinkley. We travelled from the BioBio region south to the Island of Chiloe taking in an incredible tapestry of plants and landscapes. This region of Chile with its mountains, volcanoes, ocean, fiords, lakes and rivers looks uncannily like BC and the Pacific Northwest. In fact, when I first arrived in the southern city of Puerto Montt I felt as if I had arrived in a Norwegian town set in Howe Sound populated with Hispanic people! Even the climate felt similar to that of Vancouver, albeit Vancouver in the summer since February in the southern hemisphere is equivalent to our August. The gardens were filled with hydrangea, Japanese anemone, agapanthus and other mid to late summer garden plants in full bloom. Despite the similarity of the landscape, closer inspection revealed forests of monkey puzzle trees (Araucaria araucana) and southern beeches (Nothofagus spp.) underlain with species of Alstroemeria and unique ferns such as Blechnum chilense and B. magellanicum not to mention the ubiquitous Fuchsia magellanica and more gunnera (Gunnera tinctoria) than you could ever imagine!

High elevation monkey puzzle forest (Araucaria araucana) on a ridge facing the Llaima Volcano.

Our days were spent hiking and collecting seed. Our nights were spent cleaning and packaging seed to bring home to our nurseries for study and, potentially, to offer to the gardening public. Keep your eyes open in the next couple years for plants from Chile at Phoenix Perennials! There were many botanical highlights but here are some of the most memorable:
Viola cotyledon: A succulent rosette-forming violet that grows in the alpine on free-draining volcanic soils.	Alstroemeria sp: We found this species of alstroemeria growing along the side of the road in a large mass of hundreds of flowers.
Alstroemeria aurea: This is the spreading alstroemeria of gardens. We saw it covering large areas in the forest understorey and along roadsides.	Monkey puzzle trees (Araucaria araucana) rising from the slopes with the Sierra Nevada range in the background.
Rhodophiala sp. aff. moelleri: This amaryllis relative grows at high elevations, in this case on the Villarrica Volcano.	Drimys andina: A beautiful evergreen shrub that grows in the understorey of mountain forests.
Gunnera tinctoria and Gary by the shore on the Island of Chiloe.	Embothrium coccineum, Chilean flame tree in full bloom. This is a magnet for hummingbirds both in Chile and when grown here in Vancouver.
Gunnera tinctoria growing in seeps along a vertical rock wall. These are FULL size gunnera plants!	Desfontainia spinosa: A beautiful shrub with holly-like leaves and orange-red and yellow tubular flowers.
Mitraria coccinea is a climbing, scrambling kind of character that you can find up in a tree or clamouring across the forest floor. It's successful though. It is common in moist forests.	Dan and Gary about to hike the smoking Villarrica Volcano, one of only five volcanoes in the world known to have an active, bubbling lava lake. We didn't hike to the edge of the caldera - no plants there!

View over 100 more images of Chile on our Facebook Page!
You don't have to be a Facebook Member to view the images.

4.

Charity Shopping Weekends 2011
Call for Applications

We are currently accepting applications from charitable organizations and institutions who would be interested in participating in our Charity Shopping Weekends program.

Charity Shopping Weekends are a way for Phoenix Perennials to give back to the community while helping to introduce gardeners to our nursery. Each month one charity will be selected to participate in a Weekend. During that Saturday and Sunday 25% of each purchase made by a customer who tells us they are there for that charity's Weekend will be donated to the charity. Since 2004 we have raised over $8800 for local charities.

The charity that can benefit most from a Charity Shopping Weekend is one with a base of supporters that can be easily (and cheaply) contacted and mobilized. If you are involved with or know of a charity that is looking for fundraising opportunities, please forward this information to them and have them contact me if they are interested at phoenixperennials@shaw.ca or at 604-270-4133. I will then forward them an application form.

The participating charity will be announced each month in the E-Newsletter. If you would like to support that charity (or are looking for ways to justify your hortaholic tendencies), consider doing some shopping on the Charity Shopping Weekends.

Deadline for applications: February 28th, 2011.

5.

Fabulous at Phoenix
Gary's Picks of New, Notable and Luscious Plants at the Phoenix Candy Store

Hellebore Companion Plants
This month for Fabulous at Phoenix we have a theme of perennials and shrubs that are great companions for hellebores in the late winter and spring garden. Not pictured here but also worthwhile would be Skimmia japonica, Sarcoccocca humilis and ruscifolia (sweet box), and Cornus sericea (red-twigged dogwood).

Arum italicum - Painted Arum - As the rest of the garden wanes in autumn, the painted arum sends up masses of ornamental deep green leaves marbled with cream which persist through winter. In spring large creamy green spathes appear amongst the foliage. These are followed by wands of plump, firey orange fruits in summer. Plant in a prominent spot in the shade garden where it can be enjoyed in all four seasons.
Primula 'Wanda Mix' - Primrose - A very good performer for March along a path or peeking out from under deciduous shrubs that creates a mass of mauve flowers with yellow-eyes. Divide every 3 years after it blooms.
Cyclamen coum 'Something Magic' - Hardy Cyclamen - ‘Something Magic’ is the first ever hardy cyclamen from tissue culture! Each dainty leaf sports a miniature Christmas tree with a silver halo and is topped by large rose-pink flowers in February and March. Plants are summer dormant and come into leaf in the fall or winter. Plants do well under deciduous trees and go dormant as the trees leaf out. As the trees lose their foliage in the fall, the cyclamen come up. Cyclamen require little water when dormant.
Cyclamen hederifolium - Ivyleaf Hardy Cyclamen - This delicate shady perennial has charming pink flowers with a magenta V at the base of each petal. The leaves are ivy shaped, dark green and often marbled with light green. C. hederifolium is summer dormant coming into leaf and bloom between August and October. It remains evergreen throughout the winter. Grow in light, well-drained soil in shade or part shade. Plant en masse for a superb woodland effect. Widely distributed along the Mediterranean from France to Turkey.
Daphne odora 'Mae Jima' - Winter Daphne - This extra variegated version of winter daphne is an improvement on ‘Aureomarginata’ in terms of foliage. It blooms in February and March with purple buds opening to white, lusciously fragrant flowers. Plant in part sun/part shade with morning or late afternoon sun (protect it from the hottest sun of the day) in rich, well-drained soil. Winter daphne should offer just the lift you need to get you through the end of winter and into the excitement of spring. Do not move after planting due to sensitive roots.
Carex 'Evergold' - Sedge - One of the most beautiful of all the sedges, the narrow foliage arches into attractive humocks. Each leaf is vividly striped dark green and creamy gold. The nice weeping habit makes ‘Evergold’ usefull as a woodland border, near a water feature, in mass plantings, and in pots and planters! Though recommended for average to moist sites I have found it to be quite drought tolerant in shaded areas. Evergreen.
Carex 'Ice Dance' - Sedge - A useful and beautiful sedge with broad green leaves edged with creamy white. Evergreen.
Acorus gramineus - Japanese Sweet Flag - This sweet flag from Japan has tilted fans of gold foliage. The flowers are inconspicuous. Best grown in evenly moist soil and even as a marginal plant in ponds.
Blechnum spicant - Deer Fern - Deer fern has two types of fronds, vegetative and reproductive. The vegetative fronds form an attractive, evergreen rosette of broadly spreading, glossy fronds that hug the ground. Later in the season a set of finer textured, vertical, spore-bearing fronds arise from the centre of this rosette. BC is blessed with beautiful native ferns among which deer fern must surely be included.

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Word of mouth has been such an important part of our success and growth at Phoenix Perennials. Thank you to everyone who has told their friends about us and thank you in advance for continuing to introduce new people to our nursery! We couldn't do it without your kind patronage and support!

If you have any other questions please contact us at phoenixperennials@shaw.ca.

Phoenix Perennials and Specialty Plants Ltd.
One of the largest and most exciting selections of perennials in the Lower Mainland.
Specializing in distinct perennials, fragrant shrubs, hardy subtropicals and the botanically intriguing.3380 No. 6 Road, Richmond (Between Bridgeport and Cambie)
604-270-4133
www.phoenixperennials.com

Please visit our web page for information on the nursery, driving directions and a map.
We are near the south end of the Knight Street Bridge and very easy to get to from all of the surrounding municipalities and beyond.

Opening Dates and Hours
February 25th, 2011 until October 31st, 2011
10am-5pm

Copyright Phoenix Perennials and Specialty Plants Ltd.

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